| Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure | |
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 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Sean MacLeod Phillips |
| Written by | Mose Richards |
| Narrated by | Liev Schreiber |
| Edited by | Jonathan P. Shaw |
| Music by | Richard Evans David Rhodes Peter Gabriel |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | |
Release date |
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Running time | 40 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (also calledSea Monsters) is a 2007 AmericanIMAX 3Ddocumentary film byNational Geographic, about prehistoricmarine reptiles. It alternates modern-day sequences about the work of scientists studying the animals withcomputer-animated scenes depicting the prehistoric past.
Sea Monsters was well received by critics. Thetie-in video game, however, was heavily criticized.
Brings to life some of the most bizarre, ferocious and fascinating creatures to ever inhabit the ocean. Combines animation with recreations in a prehistoric adventure. A journey to the bottom of the ancient oceans dramatizes awe-inspiring creatures.
The protagonist of the story is Dolly, a femaleDolichorhynchops who travels the Kansas Inland Sea with her family, 80 million years ago during the lateCretaceous period.
They encounter various creatures, including,Tylosaurus,Xiphactinus,Cretoxyrhina, andAmmonites.
Dolly gets attacked by a shark (Squalicorax) after her mother was killed by another shark (Cretoxyrhina). Dolly survives due to a passingTylosaurus killing the shark, albeit with a tooth embedded in her flipper. Later, Dolly's brother is swallowed whole by a youngTylosaurus, who in turn is killed by a larger member of its kind, leaving Dolly alone. Dolly survives to adulthood and goes on to have young of her very own. After seasons of traveling around the Inland sea, Dolly finally dies peacefully of old age.
The film's ambient soundtrack was composed byRichard Evans.David Rhodes andPeter Gabriel performed the end credits song "Different Stories Different Lives". The soundtrack has never been officially released.
The film was released on October 5, 2007. It was promoted with a line of toys from Wild Republic.[1] It won the "Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project" award at theVisual Effects Society Awards 2007.
The film earned a100% "Fresh" rating from 12 positive reviews onRotten Tomatoes. John Anderson ofVariety wrote "the science seems sound and the story is exciting", and found it superior to 3D films that merely use the extra dimension as a gimmick.[2] Matt Seitz ofThe New York Times was impressed by the digital spectacle.[3]The Seattle Times,Orlando Sentinel andChicago Tribune were of much the same mind.[4][5][6]
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure was made into a game by DSI Games and published by Zoo Digital Publishing. It was released on theWii,PlayStation 2, andNintendo DS on October 25, 2007. Players can controlThalassomedon,Henodus,Temnodontosaurus,Tylosaurus,Dolichorhynchops andNothosaurus in anopen-world setting, with no fixed goal besides collecting all the hidden fossils.
The game received poor reviews across all platforms.[7][8]